One poke. No joke. No “Hothead Single Incident Exception”

Roger Potter, a 63 year-old pizza deliveryman in Crookston, Minnesota (until recently) appears to have been taunted by a 22-year old colleague and, in response, Potter poked the antagonist in the ribs as he walked past him.

That one poke was sufficient employee misconduct to deprive Potter of unemployment benefits, the DEED held (Department of Employment and Economic Development).  The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed this past week.